According to the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General published last month, debts owing to Revenue amounted to €2.1 billion at the end of March 2011. There was a significant increase in the value of tax written off in 2010 when compared with 2009 and 2008. Write-offs increased by 72% in 2009, when compared with 2008. A further increase of 35% was recorded in 2010. The largest amount of tax written off in a single case in 2010 was €3.8 million. In sixteen other cases, debts in excess of €1 million were written off. In all but one case, the write-offs were related to business cessation or insolvency.

The Report also stated that the number of audits conducted in Revenue districts has decreased by 17% since 2007. The number of audits completed in Large Cases Division has decreased since 2007 also and the yield in 2010 had almost halved in comparison with 2007. Resource pressures in this area are cited as the reason for the decline and Revenue is taking steps to rebuild its audit capability according to the Report.

No new special investigations were commenced in 2010 but €43 million was collected from existing investigations.

Penalties arising out of audits amounted to €33 million. In the case of litigation, penalties tend to be smaller. Civil cases yielded €2.1 million and criminal cases yielded €4.7 million. Over 150 cases of serious tax evasion were being pursued during 2010. The rate of disposal of these cases is low with only seven finalised in court in 2010 and a further seven dropped.

For further details on the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General see http://www.audgen.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=1327